Week 1

hello to all. i am back here in tegucigalpa, honduras. i came last friday (1/19) and have been on the go ever since. returning to the clinic and baxter was nice to see everyone again but a little fustrating at the same time. dec and jan is the off months for most (like our summer months) so not a like was done seeing that most were gone. it was fustrating seeing my totaled car and having to be mean about it. i don't like being mean BUT NOTHING HAD BEEN DONE! at all! the car has been sitting under a tarp since the wreck- the excuse was that they were waiting until i got back. that whole ordeal has not been done. rumors and gossip are like wild fires here- spread across the whole country with a blink of the eye. there were 2 medial students here from virginia tech when i arrived that left yesterday and 2 new ones arrived. on the positive side, i got the see all my friends at the airport! :) one left at 10, one at 1:30 and the others came at 5. it is really nice to only live 10 min from the airport! the clinic has been really busy seeing around 40/ day. there is a new doctor that i really like and is really easy to work with. he has a lot of patience with the students and is very intelligent and funny. it has been an easy transition. living arrangements are the same with some additions. i am living with amber foster (same as last year) and 2 boys (Darwin and Ariel) from the area of town where she works called El Mogote. The boys have had a lot of loss in their lives and being with amber is like having a parent that they never really had. last night, we had an additional 8 kids spend the night. it was a little hectic. there are actually 12 in this family and the younger 8 came with us. They had called amber on friday crying because their drunken father was beating them all. amber got them and they spent the weekend basically crawling on her. it was quite a scene of all 15 of us at Burger King yesterday! amber is such a symbol of stability for them and that whole community. it's amazing. well, i am sitting outside the computer lab at baxter using the wireless and am about to run out of battery. love to you all. God bless.

Here we go again!

well, the time has almost come. i am heading back to honduras in around 30 hours and am very excited and ready. i am ready to be active and working again. it has been nice being here in nashville for the past two months but am ready to be used in God's kingdom as a stronger force. i have been able to travel lately- Ft. Morgan, Alabama (mom and daughter beach trip); henderson, tn (does that count? family- christmas) washington DC (Certification Exam- i now have a CCRP title); Keystone, Colorado (family ski trip for new year's) ; Dallas, Texas (medical missions conference); and Atlanta, GA to visit Leanne and Shannon (both who are pregnant.) It's been a busy past few weeks, especially. I was asked by Christian Woman magazine to write an article for the May/ June Issue coming up and later asked to be on the cover. Yes, I now consider myself a super-model! who wouldn't? i know, ha-ha-ha. It was a fun day with the shoot; then i saw a picture- and all the fat! i am huge! oh, well. hopefully that image in my head will motivate me to change it! anyway, yesterday, my friend ashley and i drove down to see Leanne J. Bender. I wanted to see her before i left and especailly before the baby comes. Shannon showed up a little later and said that she was pregnant and due in August. All i can say is, bless her heart. i can just imagine how difficult it will be with 2 kids under the age of 2! On the way home this morning, Ash, as awesome as she is, let me go visit a dear friend from nursing school, Amber, and her 4 month old baby Andrew. Amber moved to Chattanooga and had a baby in Sept that i had not seen. Amber is an true friend, dare i say the closest friend i had in nursing school. we were always together- even beyond our projects. Nursing school was difficult because it's hard to be social outside school- there was so much that had to be done. BUT, it also gave me great friends out of it. i only had 13 girls in my class. Out of those 13, i still keep in contact with some, 2 more than others, but hear about the all. It's a small world. Isn't it amazing how God plants people in our lives and we don't realize it until reflecting back. Nursing school without a constant friend to the end in Amber would have been aweful. Life now without the Mechelle sound-board/ advice-giver would be aweful. Thank you God for planting those women in my life from a challenging time going through school.
well, like i said, i head out in about 30 hours. please keep in touch!
erin